Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Splashy flowers

I've been walking and driving past clouds of agapanthus for weeks now on everybody's pavement and curb - in this second half of summer they are starting to go to seed so I finally put idle thought into action and tried to sketch them. I started by dropping blobs of paint from a height onto the paper (I had to work on two at the same time as I've got so impatient with waiting for paint to dry - one in a sketchbook and the other on Fabriano). The drops give a good round shape and a nice sparkly look, but not enough variation of tone. I added some more highlights with a Tippex pen, definitely not good watercolour practice!

Not sure what Tipix is but I say whatever works - and it did work on these = beautiful and pulled me right over to your blog to see them and envy your summer :) I should have been born rich instead of good-looking so I could have a winter home somewhere else! ha ha

Hi Rhonda - well one out of two isn't bad :) Tippex is opaque white stuff that secretaries used to correct their typing errors with before computers, I'm sure there must be another name for it in the States.

Thanks Sue, I used to not like them much, but now I love them - there are so many lovely new varieties.

Thank you Fay and Claire - it looks a jolly cold winter overseas, glad I could bring you a little bit of summer!

Cathy as always ...I love your sketches. I have aggies in my garden too and they wink at me every time I pass them. Will get to paint them sometime when I'm in a 'flower' mood. Don't tell me you used the rollerball tipex!!!!!? Lazy girl!! haha! Never thought of using that before... I use gouache or Chinese white W/C pigments for highlights! Have a great year on your course!

Love this and it is what drew me to your blog too. Love the idea of the dropping from height thing. How about dropping watery misket from a height to leave the white of the paper? Would that work?peace n abundance,CheyAnnehttp://cheyannesexton.etsy.com

LOL!! You're using what we call "White Out" here in the US! Good for you... you know what they say... Necessity is the Mother of Invention. I'd say it worked pretty good. Not sure about it's archival properties, though :-)

Hope you had a good Christmas. I like both paintings, but I do like the sparkle that the Tippex gives the top painting.

I've been meaning to paint these agapanthus too, but after an unsuccessful attempt 2 years ago, I haven't managed to gather the courage to tackle them again!! Sorry I haven't come round to visit you in a while. This holiday season is not very propitious to blogging! Thanks for your email telling me about the sketchers meeting, but unfortunately I go it too late.

Hi Cath - haven't looked here in a while. Pretty agapanthus - I forgot these are also by that name; I was thinking of the tall bulb things... Happy New Year and best wishes for your art course spanning the year. Love the sunny orange/yellow splash of colour in your day lilies too. SO COLD in Sugar Land at the moment, but it won't last long...See you on SKYPE!♥